Toy animal with blinking eyes



June 4, 1957 I J. A. MASON 2,794,298

' TOY ANIMAL WITH BLINKING EYES Filed July 26, 1954 ,m k lllllllnlll 2 Y 2 19 ,IO P 1a 23 4-un I I! lllll 24 1 24 1E 12 FIG. 3.

INVENTOR JAMES A MASON ATTORNEY TOY ANEWAL WITH BLTNKENG EYES James A. Mason, Shrewsbury, Mass, assignor to Electronic Toys, Inc., Westhoro, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application .iuly 26, 1954, Serial No. 445,567

4 Claims. (Cl. 46-423 This invention relates to a toy and more particularly to a toy animal having illuminated eyes or the like.

It is common practice in the manufacture of toys to use an animal-like construction wherein the eyes or some other portion of the body is electrically illuminated. In the simplest and oldest version, this type of toy includes small flash-light bulbs connected to dry cell batteries. These batteries are small and compact and readily fit within the body of the toy; however, when used with a filament lamp of any appreciable intensity, the current consumed is quite large and the battery soon is exhausted. Replacing the dead battery with a new, fresh one involves taking the animal apart and making the proper connections. This is a diflicult and expensive operation and renders this type of toy rather undesirable. Some attempts to overcome this diificulty have resulted in lighted toys which derive their source of electrical energy from the ordinary domestic electrical circuits; this is a very dangerous practice, especially when it is realized that a toy of this kind would be likely to be taken to bed by a child and a short circuit possibly formed through the childs body due to the presence of urine. ttempts have been made to use small neon lamps and an electronic circuit instead of resistance-type lamps and to produce the light by glow discharge. However, maintaining a glow discharge also requires a considerable electrical current and it is only a matter of days before the batteries supplying this type of toy are exhausted and the problem of replacement arises. These and other disabilities of the prior art device are obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.

It is therefore an outstanding object of this invention to produce a toy having a lighted body element operating from a battery which draws so little current that the life of the battery may be considered as a matter of years.

Another object of the invention is the provision of an animated toy having the quality of inducing a feeling of security in a child.

A still further object of the instant invention is the provision of a toy having a sleep-inducing effect on the observer.

it is another object of the invention to provide a lighted toy which gives a child in bed the feeling that he is not alone, but is in the presence of a friendly personality, at the same time inducing sleep from a hypnotic-like effect.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a toy animal having glow discharge tubes for eyes provided with electrical energy from a dry-cell battery, including an electronic circuit which fires the tubes with a very small consumption of current.

A still further object of this invention is the provision of a lighted toy which is inexpensive to manufacture and maintain and which has no dangerous propensities.

With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.

2,794,298 Patented June 4, 1957 ice The character of the invention, however, may be best understood by reference to certain of its structural forms, as illustrated by the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure l is a general perspective view of a toy constructed according to the teaching of the present invention,

Figure 2 is a vertical lateral sectional view of the invention taken on the line lllI of Figure 3,

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View of the invention taken on the line III1II of Figure 2,

Figure 4 is a schematic view of the electrical circuit used in the preferred embodiment of the invention, and

Figure 5 is a schematic view of a modified electrical circuit.

Like reference characters denote similar parts in the several figures of the drawings.

Referring first to Figure 1, wherein is best shown the general features of the invention, the toy, designated generally by the reference numeral 1-3, is shown as representing a bear cub or the like. The toy it has a main body 11 and suitable appendages such as arms 12, legs 13 and head 14. The head, in addition to the usual facial features, is provided with two eyes 15, which, according to the invention, are constructed as blinking lights. The toy is formed from an outer enclosure or skin 26 which is provided with a filler 17 of a soft, resilient material such as hair.

As is best shown in Figure 3, the eyes 15 are formed by providing apertures 18 in the skin 16 and fastening, by gluing or otherwise, a transparent window 19 thereover. The window may be hemispherical in shape and may be formed of a plastic substance, such as an acrylic or vinyl resin. If desired, the surface of th window may be painted, preferably on the inside surface, to represent the iris and scleral coloring of the eye. Behind each window 19 is mounted a glow discharge tube such as a neon tube 20, 21. The tubes are mounted on a panel 22 inserted in the head 14 and extending transversely thereof. Otherelements of the electrical circuit are also mounted on the panel 22, as will be described hereinafter. A pair of Wires 23 and 24 extend downwardly from the panel 22 and the elements mounted thereon to a dry-cell battery 25. This battery is located in the center of the main body 11 of the toy for ease of access and to maintain the center of gravity of the toy in a proper location.

Referring next to Figure 4, it can be seen that the battery 25 is connected on its positive side to a junction 26 by the Wire 23, while it is connected on its negative side to a junction 27 by means of the wire 24. A resistor 23 is connected at one end to the junction 27 and at the other end to a junction 29. A capacitor 36 is connected at one end to the junction 29 and at the other end to the junction 26, while the neon tube 29 is connected in parallel with this capacitor from the junction 29 to the junction 26. A resistor 31 is connected at one end to the junction 27 and at the other end to a junction 32. A capacitor 33 is connected at one end to the junction 32 and at the other end to the junction 26, While the neon tube 21 is connected in parallel with this capacitor from the junction 32 to the junction 26.

The operation of the invention will now be clearly understood in view of the above description. The toy may be placed in a seated position, as shown in Figure 1, close to a child lying in bed and within the childs View. The toy is formed to represent an animfl or the like which has particularly pleasant associations for the child, i. e., is a representation of a cartoon character or the like. The blinking of the neon tubes within the toys eyes gives the impression that the toy is a living personality and the child feels that he is not alone, but is accompanied by someone who will watch over him while he sleeps. Now, the electrical energy from the battery passes through the resistor 28 and enters the capacitor 36. At this point, let us suppose that the neon tube is not glowing, due to the fact that the voltage across its terminals is not sufiicie'nt for it to do so. Asthe electrical energy flows into; the capacitor 30, the voltage thereacross rises; when it rises to a value sufiiciently high, the discharge point or ionization. potential of the neon tube will be reached. The gas within the tube will ionize and current from the battery and from the capacitor will fiow through the tube, producing a visible. light during the time in which the flow takes place. When the resistor and capacitor are selected of suitable values, the capacitor will take a considerable periodito. charge to'the ionization potential of the neon tube, since onlya small current is permitted to pass through the resistor. Furthermore, the charge on the capacitor 34; will drop" quicklyand so will the voltage :across the capacitor. In efiect, then, the period when the tube isnot glowing will be very long, whilethe period of glow and of current consumption will be very short. The circuit formed by the resistor 31, the capacitor 33 and the tube 21 will operate in very much the same way. When the resistors 28 and 31 are selected of different values, the rate of blinking of the respective tubes 2i) and .21 will be difierent. As a matter of fact, if the blinking rate is selected high enough, say greater than 30 times a second, the physiological efiect' on the human eye is of a steady light; There are some benefits to be derived from a slower blinking rate, however, since it seems to have a sleep-producing effect on the observer, particularly when the blinking rate of the two eyes is different and they are out of phase. The fact that the current passes through the neon tube for only a matter of micro-seconds means that the current drain on the battery is verysmall; in fact, it would appear that a single battery will keep the neon tube blinking fora matter of years. The eye does not recognize the fact that the duration of the light is so small because of the intensity of the light and the retaining power of the human retina.

In one practical version of the invention, the resistors 28 and 31 were selected with a value of 18 megohms, the capacitors 3i and 33 with a value of .05 rnicrofarad, the battery 25 had a value of volts, and the tubes 20 and 21 were type NE7. It is practically impossible to obtain resistors and capacitors of exactly the same value, so the net efiect is that the blinking of thetwo eyes will always be at difierent frequencies and out of phase, which is a desirable situation as has been stated.

. A modification of the electrical circuit described above is shown in Figure 5. In this version of the invention, a battery is connected through wires 123 and 124 to junctions 126 and 127, respectively. A variable resistor or potentiometer 128 is connected on one side to the junction 127 and on the other side to a junction 129'; From the junction 129 to the junction 126 are connected in parallel a capacitor 130 and a neontube 12-h. Also, a potentiometer 131 is connected on one sideto the junction 127 and on the other side-to a junction 132. This junction 132 is connected to'thejunction 126 by a capacitor 133 in parallel with a neon tube 122. The operation of this circuit is substantially like that described for the preferred embodiment. However, in this case the current which may pass through the potentiometers 128 and 131 is adjustable by changing the position of the movable member of the potentiometer over the resistance element thereof. This means, of course, that the frequency of" blinking of the eyes of thext'oy maybe adjusted; this will permit :a certain amount of experimentation by theuser to determine a set of blinking frequencies which is most soothing to the child.

It is obvious th atminor changes may be made in the formand construction of'the invention without depart- A ing from the material spirit thereof. It is not, however, desired to confine the invention to the exact form herein shown and described, but it is desired to include all such as properly come within the scope claimed.

The invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new and desired to-secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A toy in the form of an animal having at least two eyes, a first neon tube forming part of one eye, a second neon tube forming a part of the other eye, a battery connected to the tubes for supplying them with electrical energy, a first capacitor connected across the said first tube, a second capacitor connected across the second tube, the said capacitors serving to accumulate an electrical charge until the voltage thereacross is equal to the ionization potential of their respective tubes, the tubes discharging at a visually perceptible rate, a first resistor connected between the battery and the first capacitor, a second resistor connected between the battery and the second capacitor, the resistors serving to limit the electrical energy which may flow from the battery to their respective capacitors, the resistors having difiere'nt resistance values so that the blinking ratesof the two eyes are visually perceptibly difierent and they are out of phase.

2. A toy in the form of an animal having at least two eyes, a first neon tube forming part of one eye, a second neon tube forming a part or" the other eye, a battery connected to the tubes for supplying them with electrical energy, a first capacitor connected across the said first tube, a second capacitor connected across the second tube, the said capacitors serving to accumulate an electrical charge until the voltage there'across' is equal to the ionization potential of their respective tubes, the tubes discharging at a visually perceptible rate, a first resistor connected between the battery and the first capacitor, 2. second resistor connected between the battery and the second capacitor, the resistors serving to limit the electricalenergy which may flow from the battery to their respective capacitors, the first resistor, capacitor and tube forming one branch and the second resistor, capacitor and tube forming another branch, the branches having different electrical characteristics so that the blinking rates of the two eyes are visually perceptibly dilferent and they are out of phase.

3. A toy'in the form'of an animal having at least two eyes, a firstneon tube forming part of one eye, a second neon tube forming a part of the other eye, a battery connected to the tubes for supplying ther'ri with electrical energy, a first capacitor connected across the said first tube, a second capacitor connected across the second tube, the said capacitors serving to accumulate an electrical charge'until the voltage thereacro'ss is equal to the ionization potential of their respective tubes, a first resistor connected between the battery andthe first capacitor, a second resistor connected between the battery and the second capacitor, the resistors serving to limit the electrical energy which may flow from the battery to their respective capacitors, the resistor and capacitor associated with eachtub'e being such that the frequency of discharge of the tube is at a distinctly visible rate to simulate blinking, the elements associated with the first neon tube having slightly different electrical characteristics than the elements associated with the second neon tube sothat the blinking rates of the two eyes are visually perceptibly difierent and they are out of phase.

4. A toy in the form of an animal having at least two eyes, a first glow discharge tube forming part of one eye, a second glow discharge tube-"forming a part of the other eye, a dry-cell battery connected to the tubes for supplying them with'electrical energy, a first capacitor connected across the said first tube, a second capacitor connected across tie second tube, the said capacitors serving to accumulate an electrical charge' until the voltage thereacross is equal to the ionization potential of their respective tubes, 21 first resistor connected between the battery and the first capacitor, a second resistor connected between the battery and the second capacitor, the resistors serving to limit the electrical energy which may flow from the battery to their respective capacitors, the 5 resistor and capacitor associated with each tube being selected of such a value that the frequency of discharge of the tube is at a distinctly visible rate to simulate blinking, the resistors having slightly difierent resistance values so that the blinking rates of the two eyes are visually per- 10 ceptibly different and they are out of phase.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Ambash et al. Sept. 8, Kayser Sept. 6, Morgenstern et al. Sept. 20, Hill Sept. 19, Rubenstein Nov. 2, Nieset July 28, 

